State fighting bias over race, U.N. notified

Attorney General Dustin McDaniel told a United Nations committee in Geneva on Wednesday that Arkansas is making strides to end racial discrimination.

McDaniel was part of a U.S. delegation that spoke before the U.N. Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination about the International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination, a treaty that was ratified by the United States in 1994, according to his office.

The recent end to a 31-year-old lawsuit over desegregating public schools "solidified the state's commitment to nondiscriminatory policies, ranging from student assignment to discipline," McDaniel said.

"Decades of poor policy led to inadequacies that disadvantaged minority and underprivileged students. Today, the litigation is over. Our state constitution and the [treaty] are being upheld," McDaniel said, according to prepared remarks provided by his office.

McDaniel said his office also reached a settlement in a mortgage fraud case "designed to ensure nondiscriminatory access to housing" and that it was investigating for-profit colleges that make false representations and target students who are members of minority groups.

McDaniel was joined by William Bell, the mayor of Birmingham, Ala.; the U.S. attorney for the Eastern District of New York; and representatives from the State Department, Justice Department, Department of Health and Human Services, and the Department of Homeland Security.

Metro on 08/14/2014

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